'MIW*!iW»<»;»»*w-iiquaDOf?'«KWMOT>«''vyi£flM/.cjit«a 



^.■<> 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

CiiapZj^V Copyright No.'3_Oi.C:;^ 



Shells 



.M^-]]s 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




Rev. Robert Reid Kalley. 



STORY OF MADEIRA 



BY 



DELLA DIIVLNIITT 




CINCINNATI : CURTS & JENNINGS 

NEW YORK : BATON & MAINS 

1896 



^"-\ 










COPYRIGHT 

BY CURTS & JJ^NNINGS 

1896 



y 



ioio 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTKR I. 

Page. 
An Act of Providence, 9 

CHAPTKR II. 
Persecutions Begun, 29 

CHAPTKR III. 
Escape of the Converts, 65 

CHAPTKR IV. 
Missions in New IvAnds, 80 

CHAPTKR V. 
In Brazii,, 99 

CHAPTKR VI. 
A Widening Fiei.d, 118 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Rev. Robert Reid Kai,i,ey, Frontispiece. 

Harbor oe Funchai,, Madeira, .... Face page 12 

Street Scene in Funchai,, '' 32 

Park and Opera-house, *' 48 

Hammock Borne by Porters, ..... '' 80 

Train to the Mountain, *' 96 



A STORY OF MADEIRA. 



A STORY OF MADEIRA. 



Chapter L 

AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE* 

IN tlie North Atlantic, some five Hun- 
dred miles soutliwest of Lisbon, and 
near four hundred miles due west of Mo- 
rocco, lies the island of Madeira. Its 
discovery, in 1419, was the second achieve- 
ment of the early Portuguese mariners, 
who have left their names and their his- 
tory in a wide track upon the map of the 
world. At that time, John the Great was 
king of Portugal, and Prince Henry, the 
third of his illustrious sons, after distin- 
guishing himself in a campaign against 
the Moors, in which he and his four 
brothers led the flower of the young Port- 



lO A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

uguese ciiivalry, had taken up his resi- 
dence in ancient Sagre, and was devoting 
his wealth and energies to the promotion 
of a notable cause. 

Until then the rich products of the 
Orient were carried overland to Venice, 
the distributing point of all Europe. It 
was the great hope of Prince Henry, 
'' the Navigator,'' to discover a southern 
water-route to India, which, by one bold, 
brilliant stroke, would add to the glory 
of Portugal, deprive the Venetians of 
their commercial prestige, and turn the 
current of trade toward Lisbon, where 
his father loved to dwell and watch the 
white sails pass to and fro along the Ta^ 
gus. All the adventurous spirits of the 
kingdom gathered around Prince Henry, 
and while he never commanded the ex- 
peditions in person, he was universally 
acknowledged to be the guiding genius of 
them all. 



AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE. II 

This was but tlie beginning of that 
marvelous expansion of power which has 
given Portugal a story among the nations 
of earth — a story as eventful, as pictur- 
esque, as glorious as even her prouder 
Castilian neighbor can tell. And when 
it is remembered that these sea-faring 
men put out on unknown seas in such 
crazy crafts as a sailor of to-day would 
hardly trust outside of the land^s sight, 
and that there was at that time none of 
the modern knowledge of the tides and 
winds, their successful ventures seem all 
the more wonderful. 

Prince Henry hailed wdth delight the 
news of the discovery of Madeira, so 
called because of its wooded appearance. 
The island was soon colonized, and the 
prince himself introduced the culture of 
sugar-cane and the grapevine, which 
have since been the chief source of its 
wealth. 



12 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

Soon after its colonization a terrible 
fire broke out, whicb burned steadily for 
seven years, destroying mucli of the nat- 
ural beauty of the island, and for a time 
threatening the destruction of the little 
colony ; but, like all other things Portu- 
guese, it had strange tenacity of life, and 
grew to share the fortunes and misfor- 
tunes of the mother country. 

In a little cup-shaped depression among 
encircling mountains, Funchal, the isl- 
and's capital and largest city, has been 
built. It looks seaward on the south, 
and some half-mile out, on a natural de- 
fense of rocks, is the old fort, command- 
ing the entrance to the Bay of Funchal. 
A massive stone wall, sixteen feet in 
thickness, and rising fourteen feet above 
the sea-level, curves inward from the fort 
and joins the island, making a safe en- 
trance where, in former times, the short 
and choppy waves were a constant men- 



X 
> 

DO 
C 

C 

■n 

c 
O 
> 

r 




AN ACT OF PROVIDKNCB. 1 3 

ace to vessels making tlie pass between 
the fort and the harbor. 

A broad, clean beach of white stones 
skirts the bay, and a wide street, paved 
with the same clean stones, leads directly 
into the city, which stretches away up the 
gently-sloping mountain-sides for some 
three miles in as many directions. A 
few half-ruined archways yet remain that 
once broke the solid length of a stone 
wall inclosing the city, and adding its 
picturesque touch of the olden times. It 
is a ^^ white city,'' the dwellings being 
built almost entirely of native stone, with 
red-tiled roofs and wide verandas, show- 
ing glimpses of cool, dim interiors 
through the overhanging masses of 
vines. Well-kept parks break the mo- 
notonous length of streets solidly built 
up of business and dwelling houses, the 
most beautiful of them all being the 
central park that is at the crossing of the 



14 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

two main thorouglifares and near the 
heart of the city. Fountains, flowers in 
rank luxuriance, clean, pebbly walks, rus- 
tic seats, and a quaint band-stand, in 
which a band plays two evenings of every 
week, make it a delightful resort of the 
people. A cathedral rises off to the side 
of the park, and from its tall tower sweet- 
toned bells sound the hours. 

Half-way up the mountain-side, and 
beyond the ruined archways that mark 
the limits of the city, is one of the smaller 
Roman Catholic churches, called ^^ Our 
Lady of the Mount,'' interesting because 
of the magnificent view it affords of the 
city down in the valley, and of the ex- 
panse of blue waters, with that peculiar 
wall-like effect the unobstructed breakers 
give as they pile up far out at sea. 

Beyond the mountains stretches the 
open country, almost the whole of it en- 
tailed estates of the nobility, but divided 



AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE. 1 5 

into small holdings, given over to the 
peasants for cultivation, the lines of sur- 
vey marked by stone walls or box hedges, 
and not infrequently by solid banks of 
nothing but fuchsias in full bloom. Quaint 
little peasant cottages, with high thatched 
roofs, meet the eye as the traveler swings 
through the country, carried in a ham- 
mock suspended from the shoulders of 
two strong carriers, or is borne more lux- 
uriously in a cushioned and silk-curtained 
palanquin; for beasts of burden are rare 
and expensive in the island. 

It has a semi-tropical climate, and 
from the harbor at Funchal, where the 
white-winged vessels come and go, car- 
goes of tropical fruits and casks of wine 
of the famous ^' Old Madeira'^ vintage, 
are sent to the markets of the world. 

And this is Madeira, this little island 
only eighteen miles wide by fifty-four 
miles long — the " old country ^^ that its 



1 6 A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

wandering sons will tell yon abont with 
misty eyes and a wistfnlness of voice 
that speaks to yon of something loftier 
than the monntains and deeper than the 
sea of their own Madeira. 

In 1838, Robert Reid Kalley, a native 
of Scotland and a physician from Edin- 
burgh, who had felt himself especially 
called to the work of a missionary, was 
on his way to his appointed field. He 
had been ordained by the Free Church of 
Scotland, and appointed to a mission in 
China ; but while on the way his wife 
sickened, and it became apparent that she 
could not endure the strain of the long, 
hard voyage. At last the doctor re- 
quested the captain to put them off at 
the nearest port. It was one of those 
moments when a man walks blindly as he 
follows after faith. 

It chanced that the little island of 
Madeira was the point of land first 



AN ACT OF PROVIDBNCK. 1 7 

reached ; but in the light of after his- 
tory, there can be no question that ^^ Al- 
mighty God that chance did guide." 
Landed — stranded, as it were — in this 
foreign country, and unacquainted with 
its language, the doctor accepted it as 
one of the inscrutable providences, and 
prepared to take up his residence among 
a strange people. He began at once a 
study of the language, and sought to 
enter into the life around him with the 
easy adaptability of the truly called mis- 
sionary. 

Dr. Kalley was a man cast in a grand 
mold. Strongly built and of command- 
ing stature, there was a fine dignity in 
his bearing which made him a conspic- 
uous and kingly figure wherever he stood 
among men. His face was that of a true 
Scot, resolute, strong, and open as the 
day; but there was that same expression, 
a sort of spiritual illumination, in the 



1 8 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

keen, clear blue eyes, that shines — yea, 
speaks — in the eyes of men who live very 
close to God, and who love their fellow- 
men with a deep, unspeakable, and self- 
abnegating love. He inspired confidence 
in others, while the most of us must win 
it slowly, proving ourselves worth}/ be- 
fore the precious thing is given, and his 
medical skill furnished him the means of 
immediate and direct contact with the 
people. 

Madeira had never been occupied as a 
mission field, and, having no authority 
from the Church with which he had been 
identified in Edinburgh, Dr. Kalley re- 
solved upon opening up a work upon en- 
tirely independent lines. He was a man 
of great wealth, and in his act of conse- 
cration to his calling, had not forgotten 
to add his treasure to the list of taxable 
property, which included himself with all 
his varied talents and youthful ambition ; 



AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE. 1 9 

for he was at this time but twenty-nine 
years of age. 

Like a practical Scotchman, Dr. Kal- 
ley entered upon his self-appointed mis- 
sion by ministering to the physical needs 
of the people. He opened a hospital and 
dispensary in Funchal, and gave medical 
treatment, free of charge, to all who 
came to him. The hold this course gave 
him upon the people was necessarily very 
great. 

The native physicians were ill-taught, 
bungling practitioners, and the majority 
of the people were very poor. The rea- 
sons for this general condition of poverty 
were obvious. The population was over 
large for the size of the island, and the 
holding of the land by the gentry drew 
the distinctions of class sharply, and in- 
creased the difficulty for the common 
people to gain a living. 

In the country day-laborers received 



20 A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

their board and but ten cents a day addi- 
tional ; and even tbe wages of skilled me- 
cbanics in tbe city never exceeded eighty 
cents a day. However, as an offset to 
these hard conditions, the mild climate, 
never approaching the severity of a north- 
ern winter, and the abundance of fruits, 
reduced the necessities of life to the small- 
est limits. 

In dispensing his charities. Dr. Kalley 
insisted upon but one condition, and that 
was for all who wished a consultation to 
present themselves at his office by nine 
o'clock in the morning. When all were 
assembled, he would read a chapter from 
the Bible, point the people to the Great 
Physician, and offer up a simple, earnest 
prayer for the effectiveness of the rem- 
edies he was about to administer, and 
pleaded that their infirmities of soul 
might also yield to the touch of the di- 
vine healing. 



AN ACT OI^ PROVIDKNCK. 21 

Schools were next established by the 
doctor in various parts of the island, lie 
himself hiring the teachers and furnish- 
ing the text-books. It was an unprece- 
dented offer; for Madeira had never 
maintained any system of free schools, 
and the great majority of the people could 
neither read nor write. It had long been 
the custom with the more prosperous 
families to send the eldest child to some 
one of the parochial schools in the city, 
and in turn the younger children learned 
of that more highly-favored one; but no 
such advantages as these were to be 
had by any except the richer few. The 
heavy shadow of Romanism lay upon the 
entire island, and the deplorable mental 
and spiritual darkness was fully equal to 
that of all ancient or modern countries 
belonging distinctively to the Roman 
Catholic faith. 

The inhabitants of Madeira showed 



22 A STORY OF MADKIRA. 

their appreciation of the Scotchman's 
offer by the very best way in their power — 
they flocked to the schools from all direc- 
tions, and it is on record that at one time 
there were eight hundred adults in at- 
tendance, and some twenty-five hundred 
at various times. The sessions were held 
by night, at '' early candle-light, '' so that 
the regular working hours might not be 
infringed upon. 

The Bible was one of the text-books 
in use, and these copies were the first 
ones ever seen in Madeira, with the ex- 
eption of a consignment of eighty vol- 
umes, sent for the use of the priests 
some years before, at the express com- 
mand of the Queen of Portugal. 

The people were teachable, and, rarer 
still, were grateful. There was no such 
popular man in all the length and breadth 
of the island as Dr. Kalley. He was ev- 
erybody's friend. The fame of his cures 



AN ACT OP^ PROVIDKNCK. 23 

Spread abroad, and even the exclusive 
and wealthy sought relief at his hand. 
The municipal authorities of Funchal 
tendered him a formal vote of thanks for 
what they delighted to term his ^^disinter- 
ested acts of benevolence and philan- 
thropy in the establishment of free schools, 
hospitals, and dispensaries in different 
parts of the island/' 

It is pleasant to dwell upon these ear- 
lier years of Dr. Kalley's ministry in Ma- 
deira, when popular favor was his. His 
coming in the character of a public bene- 
factor calls to one's memory a curious 
story interwoven with the history of Por- 
tugal concerning the last ruler of the 
powerful house of Aviz. 

The blood of the Bnglish Plantagenets 
was united vvdth the illegitimate blood of 
the great John, founder of the house, 
which in its course produced some right 
royal kings. The last of the race was 



24 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

Dom Sebastian, a fair-haired, blue-eyed 
bay, who was declared of age, and given 
the right to rnle over Portugal when 
only in his fifteenth year. From the 
Hapsburg strain he had inherited a cer- 
tain German dreaminess, which, commin- 
gling with the Spanish fanaticism, made 
him a Crusader, though the crusade spirit 
itself had died away throughout Burope 
long before his time. 

Filled with the dream of becoming a 
brave ^^ Soldier of the Cross,'' he taxed 
the last resources of an already decaying 
country to furnish means and men for 
an expedition against the Moors, the ob- 
ject of which was the recovery of some 
worthless towns along the barren African 
coast, which his grandfather, John III, 
had voluntarily abandoned to the Mo- 
hammedans. With the largest fleet at 
his command, numbers of Spanish and 
German mercenaries, and ten thousand 



AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE. 25 

Portuguese soldiers, young and, like their 
king, bent on adventure, lie set sail for 
Morocco. The Pope blessed the enter- 
prise, and sent him an arrow of Saint 
Sebastian ; but the fortunes of war were 
not to be commanded by the infallible 
one's blessing, or even by the arrow of a 
saint. From first to last the enterprise 
was a failure, and though Dom Sebastian 
fought like a brave, true knight, he led a 
forlorn hope. 

It was on the 4th of August, 1578, at 
daybreak, when the decisive battle was 
on, and before night nine thousand sol- 
diers lay dead on the field, and the rest 
were taken prisoners, except a body of 
fifty horsemen surrounding the person of 
their king. An equerry flung up a flag 
of truce, and was in the act of making a 
formal surrender, when the impetuous 
young king, who bore this device upon 

his sword, ^^In noble death lies life's 

3 



26 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

whole honor/' broke away from his 
guard and dashed single-handed upon 
the Moorish cavalry. Angry at the 
breach of faith, the Moors instantly cut 
him down, and the last romantic figure 
of the Portuguese Crusaders had vanished 
forever. 

For some unaccountable cause, the 
Portuguese of the lower classes did not 
believe Dom Sebastian dead. The cir- 
cumstances of his romantic expedition 
among the Moors had strangely fired the 
popular imagination, and, believing the 
protection of Heaven especially vouch- 
safed to him, they looked for Dom Se- 
bastian to appear among them again. 
The idea embodied itself into a religious 
faith, and a powerful sect sprang up, call- 
ing themselves Sebastianistai, and look- 
ing always toward the coming of the 
^^ Principe Encuberto,'' or Hidden Prince. 
Though more than three hundred years 



AN ACT OF PROVIDENCE. 27 

have elapsed, and no less than five im- 
postors have been put to ignominious 
death for proclaiming themselves Dom 
Sebastians, and asserting claims to the 
throne of Portugal, the superstition still 
clings to the more ignorant Portuguese, 
and in every great national stress they 
have looked with a great longing for the 
coming of the true Dom Sebastian, who 
would bring them deliverance in war and 
wise rule in peace. 

Another nation once looked through 
long centuries of waiting toward the com- 
ing of a great '^ Hidden Prince '' indeed. 
And the world is always looking, in one 
way and another, for the rising of sortie 
wiser ruler than has hitherto borne rule 
over it, some great dispenser of bounties, 
whose far-reaching humanity will touch 
even to the confines of a single httman 
life. And in the course of years a prince 



28 A STORY OF MADKIRA. 

does sometimes stand revealed among 
men, for tlie Record tells us that once at 
least, ^^ there was a man sent from God.'' 
There are still men sent from God, and 
one had come to Madeira. 



Chapter H* 

PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 

AS time passed on, the real object of 
Dr. Kalley's work became apparent. 
It was for the salvation of the people he 
had been moved to these ^^acts of disin- 
terested benevolence. '' He had given the 
islanders an open Bible, and, believing 
with Luther, that it is its own best inter- 
preter, he had qnietly waited until the 
Book had proven itself the ^^ Sword of 
the Spirit.'' 

They read it with increasing delight 
and wonder, this new Book, which so 
simply unfolded the way of life to the 
true believer. There was nothing in it 
of priestly intercession, or of the ancient 
customs and stately ceremonial of the 

Romish Church. They marveled at that. 

29 



30 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

The priests, having to meet so many 
questions concerning the very founda- 
tions of the ancient faith, finally became 
alarmed for the safety of the Church, and 
to stay the rising spirit of inquiry, the 
bishop ofi&cially declared this new Bible 
was ^'a book from hell/' 

Dr. Kalley met them on their own 
ground, and caused certified comparisons 
of the Bible he had introduced among 
them, and the version which had received 
the sanction of the Queen of Portugal, to 
be posted in conspicuous places. Verse 
by verse they were found to be identical. 
In the face of such indisputable evidence, 
the bishop went further, and pronounced 
a curse upon the Bible and all Avho should 
read it, and gave warning to the teachers, 
whom Dr. Kalley had employed, to dis- 
continue their teaching at the risk of im- 
prisonment. 

In the city of Funchal there were 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 3 1 

many Englisli-speaking' people. The offi- 
cial residence of the English consul was 
there, and the well-known healthfulness 
of Madeira had drawn great numbers of 
invalids to winter in the mild cliniate of 
the island. A Scottish Church of the 
Protestant faith had been erected for the 
use of these foreigners, and they were 
protected by certain provisions in the 
treaty between the two nations in the 
free exercise of their religion. 

It was some four years after his arri- 
val that Dr. Kalley had commenced to 
hold regular religious services for the na- 
tives. These meetings were usually held 
in the open air, often on the mountain- 
side, and the doctor preached to them 
there ; or in his absence, some one of the 
newly taught read selections from the 
Scriptures. And sjo eager were the peo- 
ple to hear that they came walking over 
the mountains for great distances, and 



32 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

from all directions, gathering in great 
crowds to feed upon the Word of Life 
as it fell from tlie lips of their beloved 
physician, teacher, and friend. 

One Sabbath morning two Portuguese, 
who had been moved to make a public 
renunciation of the ancient faith, came to 
the little Scottish Church and partook of 
the communion. This was sufficient pre- 
text for the priests to combine against 
the great popular movement led on by Dr. 
Kalley. The two believers were at once 
excommunicated, and from that time on 
the spirit of persecution was abroad in 
the land. 

The schools were broken up with vio- 
lence, the teachers imprisoned, and threats 
made against the life of Dr. Kalley. In 
defiance of the treaty, he was at last 
seized, tried, and thrown into prison under 
an old law of the Inquisition which had 
not been in force for more than two hun- 










< 



c 

2 

n 
> 




^,-^<fe|-A 






^■t/ii^ty\> . 



PKRSKCUTIONS BEGUN. 33 

dred years. At tlie expiration of five 
montlis lie was released ; but the new 
governor, who had recently received his 
appointment over the island, openly de- 
clared his intention of driving the doctor 
from Madeira, and thus putting an end 
to the work. 

About this time. Dr. Kalley withdrew 
from the island for a brief period, visit- 
ing friends in Scotland, and afterward 
living quietly in Lisbon, in the hope that 
the storm would expend its force. 

During his absence, Mr. Hewitson, a 
young minister from Edinburgh, was or- 
dained by the Free Church of Scotland, 
and sent as missionary to Madeira. He 
it was who first organized the converts 
into a Church belonging to this com- 
munion. It is the universal testimony 
of all who remember this devoted young 
minister that he was so unreservedly 
given up to the service of the Master 



34 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

that when he preached it seemed as if 
the very heavens drew near and opened 
before the eyes of the people. He fre- 
quently said that he knew Christ better 
than he knew any other being, and it was 
always that thought of the personal rela- 
tion between God and man which was 
the keynote in the character of this pure 
young spirit, and formed the burden of 
his message to men. 

Upon Dr. Kalley's return to Madeira, 
the persecutions broke out afresh. A Jes- 
uit upon the island, following out the dis- 
tinctive methods of that notorious order, 
gave form to the growing spirit of oppo- 
sition to the missionary and his converts 
by banding the priests together in a se- 
cret organization. They subverted the 
press of the island to their use, and 
through its agency openly advocated mur- 
der, imprisonment, and beating for the 
Bible-readers. 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 35 

The civil authority was tacitly com- 
mitted to the work of exterminating the 
new faith, and the persecutions began in 
earnest. One woman was tried and con- 
demned to death because she persisted in 
affirming that the wafer in the hands of 
a priest was not the real body of Christ. 
The formal setting forth of her offense 
and sentence is a curious instrument to 
be found in court records of our own day. 
The sentence, however, was never exe- 
cuted ; for the friends of the condemned 
woman appealed to a superior tribunal in 
Portugal, which approved of the grounds 
of the sentence, but reversed it on some 
minor technicality. She suffered a long 
imprisonment, and but for the persistent 
effort of friends would no doubt have suf- 
fered death also. 

From the lips of the survivors of those 
perilous times of fifty years ago comes 
the story — the latest chapter of the In- 



36 A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

quisition continued into the nineteenth 
century. 

One of them, for many years an elder 
in the Presbyterian Church here in our 
own country, was a pupil in one of the 
night-schools in the rural districts. He 
had never seen a printed page until he 
entered the school; but after the teacher 
employed by Dr. Kalley had been forbid- 
den to teach longer, he was one of the 
advanced pupils selected to carry on the 
work. 

They met at nightfall in the moun- 
tains, and for a number of months eluded 
the vigilance of the officers; but at last 
the young teacher, together with his 
father, four brothers, sixteen other men, 
and five converted women, were arrested 
and taken to the Funchal jail. They 
were kept in close confinement for two 
entire years, and during all that time the 
jail-keeper was forbidden to give food to 



PKRSKCUTIONS BEGUN. 37 

these twenty- two men and five women, 
whose only offense was that of reading 
and believing the Scriptures, though 
those confined with them, who were 
guilty of overt acts against the civil law, 
were abundantly supplied with food. 
These sufferers for the truth's sake were 
fed by the bounty of friends and sympa- 
thizers outside. 

The first serious difiiculty occurred 
when all were required to attend mass in 
the jail, and these twenty-two men re- 
fused to kneel in presence of the ^^host.'^ 
They were then beaten, one of them so 
severely that at the time of his death, two 
years ago, he still bore upon his person 
the scars left by the lash ; but not one of 
the number yielded, though their outward 
observance of the form would have saved 
them any further difiiculty. At the ex- 
piration of the two years they were al- 
lowed a trial, and were released, but were 



38 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

threatened with immediate rearrest and 
the full penalty of law if they did not re- 
turn to the communion of the Roman 
Catholic Church. They fled to the moun- 
tains, and for the time found safety among 
the natural fastnesses, together with scores 
of other unfortunate ones driven from 
their homes. 

The lawyer who defended the prison- 
ers was afterward compelled to flee for 
refuge to Portugal. The people were so 
incensed at him for undertaking the 
cause of Bible-readers, they would not 
tolerate his presence in Madeira. 

There were now seizures daily, and 
trials in which none of the Bible-readers, 
as they were derisively called, could ex- 
pect justice. False witnesses were often 
hired ; the accused one was required to 
pay the costs of his own trial, and for his 
maintenance while in jail. Thej^ were 
excommunicated, and with that sentence 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 39 

went the command to all loyal Roman- 
ists: ^'Let none give them fire, water, 
bread, or anything that may be necessary 
to them for their snpport. Let none pay 
them their debts.'' And this command 
was so literally carried ont that none of 
those who had property were able to sell 
at any price. Some few made arrange- 
ments with friends to hold in trust for 
them what they had; but the sentence 
of excommunication practically reduced 
every one of the early believers to 
poverty. 

The story of a man yet living, as he 
relates it, holds the clearest reflection of 
the stealthy, pursuing power of the Church 
of Rome over one who renounces alle- 
giance to the ancient faith; though, in 
point of fact, the occurrence was a num- 
ber of years after the violence of the per- 
secutions had subsided, and after the ear- 
lier converts had left the island. 



40 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

The narrator was the son of a wine- 
grower in the diocese of St. Anthony, 
about four miles out of Funchal. As evi- 
dence of the mental darkness of the peo- 
ple, he says that, of his father's family 
•and immediate connection, twenty in all, 
not one could read. Upon the opening 
of Dr. Kalley's school, this boy became a 
pupil, and afterward, though but eleven 
years of age, taught from house to house, 
and wrote letters for those of the Prot- 
estants who had friends in the faith else- 
where. He added, by way of apology, 
that in Madeira they have a proverb 
which says, ^^In the land of the blind, he 
that hath an eye may be king.'' 

The study of the Bible became the 
boy's absorbing passion, as, indeed, it was 
with all who first came to look upon its 
inspired pages ; but the order had long 
gone out through the island that all 
copies of the Bible should be seized and 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 41 

destroyed. Hundreds of volumes were, 
in the course of time, taken from the 
people, and there are many incidents re- 
lated of the ways in which some of the 
more fortunate ones succeeded in saving 
their precious copies, secreting them in 
the thick foliage of trees, or among 
the easily-loosened stones of the walls 
surrounding the yards. This family had 
been able to retain their Bible by placing 
it in a hollow place in the ceiling. The 
house had been searched many times, and 
the daughter of the landlord, a young 
woman who was a most devout Roman 
Catholic, had asked again and again what 
they had done with ^Hhat black book.'' 

In their reverence for the Bible as the 
inspired of the Spirit, they felt no re- 
proach in openly declaring they had no 
^* black book ;" but towards evening the 
Bible would be drawn from its hiding- 
place, and, holding it between him and 



42 A STORY OF MADEIRA. -^ 

the uncertain light of the fireplace, with 
his back to the window, concealing it 
from the view of any chance passer-by, 
the boy would read aloud to the assem- 
bled family. But one day the door was 
suddenly flung open, and the landlord's 
daughter ran up to him, saying, with a 
mocking laugh, ^^Ah ! I have the black 
book at last/' 

It was a sore trial to them all ; but the 
boy at once wrote a letter to Dr. Miller, 
the brother-in-law of Dr. Kallev, then ab- 
sent in Ivondon, describing the manner of 
the Bible's capture, and asking for an- 
other. He lost the letter while on his 
way to mail it in Funchal. It was found 
and taken to the priest of St. Anthony 
parish, who read it publicly, and admon- 
ished all who had dealings with the boy's 
father neither to buy nor sell to him. Of 
course, that meant starvation, which was 
a serious matter for a man with a helpless 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 43 

family dependent upon him, and, after 
consulting with his wife, they decided to 
send the boy to confessional. Much 
against his will, he presented himself be- 
fore the priest, but, upon refusing to kneel 
before his confessor, was roughly seized 
by the shoulder, and forced into the main 
audience-room. It was during Lent, and 
the room was full, and in presence of them 
all the priest related the scene in the con- 
fessional, and after another ineffectual at- 
tempt to compel the boy to kneel and 
answer according to the spirit of one who 
desires absolution at the hands of a priest, 
he was excommunicated then and there, 
and flung into the street, cursed as a dog 
and a devil, which is the height of pro- 
fanity in Madeira. 

Not long after this occurrence, while 
working with his brothers in the pine 
woods, the boy mashed his thumb. No 
part of his hand was injured except the 



44 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

end of his thumb just above the first 
joint; for he distinctly remembers crush- 
ing his handkerchief in the wounded 
hand to dry his tears. They were nine 
miles from home, but they walked back 
as hurriedly as possible, and the father 
started with his son to consult a surgeon 
of Funchal. 

In passing the church of St. Anthony, 
they saw the priest on the balcony, who 
inquired the cause of their journey. 

^^Ah, it is too bad,'' he said, in a kindly 
tone, after hearing the account of the ac- 
cident; ^^ such a promising boy, too. 
Where will you take him for treatment?'' 

^* I do n't know yet," answered the 
father. 

^^Well, then," said the priest — the 
same one who had excommunicated and 
cursed him a few weeks before — ^^ I ad- 
vise you to take him to the city hospital. 
He will be treated there free of charge, 



PKRSKCUTIONS BEGUN, 45 

and I myself will give you a certificate of 
admission for him.'' 

The father, who could not read at all, 
gladly received the paper, and, upon 
reaching the hospital and presenting the 
certificate, was told that the thumb would 
require some three weeks' treatment, and 
that he might as well go home and leave 
his son, that he would be well cared for. 

In the afternoon the superintendent of 
the hospital came to the boy, and said 
with rather a baleful inflection of tone : 

^^ You will never write again for the 
Protestants, you — you Calvinist boy !" 

In that moment it flashed upon him 
that he was to be the victim of some pre- 
arranged plan ; but he looked up calmly 
into the superintendent's face, and said : 

^^ I know I am in your power; but re- 
member you will have to meet me at the 
judgment bar, and answer for what you 
do to me to-day." 



46 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

A bell rang, and the medical students 
came hurrying into the clinic. They 
seized the boy and held him down on the 
operating-table in spite of his screams 
and struggles. He was soon under the 
influence of a powerful opiate, and next 
remembers the touch of a gentle hand 
on his forehead, and the voice of one 
of the physicians, himself an irreligious 
man, saying: 

^^ O poor boy! poor boy ! draw thy 
maimed arm to thyself." 

He looked down, and his hand was 
severed at the wrist, and his first words 
spoken through tears were these : 

^^ I can never write again.'' 

The father, coming next day to see 
his son, was heart-broken to find what 
had been done, and summoning Dr. Mil- 
ler, who was again in Funchal, they vis- 
ited the morgue together. The doctor 
examined the severed hand, and found it 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 47 

articulated perfectly ; but the records of 
the hospital disclosed the certificate of ad- 
mission, which read thus: ^^This is that 
Calvinist pest — fix him.'' 

Among the early believers was a man 
by the name of Martin. One night he 
was quietly walking home from one of 
Dr. Kalley's meetings, when he was sud- 
denly overpowered by a number of men 
who lay in wait for him along the unfre- 
quented way. They beat him severely, 
and then dragged him alongside one of 
the stone walls that skirted the fields. 
One after another the men climbed upon 
the wall, and jumped from it down upon 
the prostrate body of the Bible-reader. 
The blood gushed from his wounds, and 
they left him for dead. Recovering con- 
sciousness, he raised his head and feebly 
asked of the passers-by a drink of water 
from the small stream that ran near at 
hand, and there was not one moved by the 



48 A STORY OF MADKRIA. 

commonest humanity to do this simple 
act of service for a dying fellow-man. 
He was afterward buried at a cross-road, 
the common place of interment for here- 
tics, as was also Antonio Reis, the wealth- 
iest man of his locality, an elder in ,the 
Church, and one of the early converts. 

And when it is remembered that all 
Roman Catholic people are intensely su- 
perstitious, and that the cross-roads were 
popularly supposed to be the meeting- 
place of uneasy ghosts, witches, and 
devils, it was a most uncanny place in 
which to lie, with the passers-by treading 
over one by day, and the evil spirits 
holding high carnival by night. 

As the strength of the persecutions 
waxed greater, the believers were drawn 
together in a closer bond of fellowship. 
Frequent meetings were held for the 
strengthening of their faith, and among 
the places open for these services was 



"0 

> 

> 

z 

a 

O 

-0 

m 

> 

i 
o 
c 

jn 

m 
C 
z 

o 




PERSKCUTIONS BEGUN. 49 

the home of three English sisters, the 
Misses Rutherford. They lived in the 
^^ Quinta das Augustias/' a beautiful res- 
idence of some tvventy or thirty rooms, 
with wide verandas encircling the house, 
which was set in the midst of finely-kept 
grounds. 

One Sabbath morning a little company 
assembled to listen to the reading of the 
Bible and to hear a letter addressed to 
his flock by the young pastor, Mr. Hew- 
itson, who had before this time returned 
to Scotland. Before the hour's service 
had closed, a mob, composed of the worst 
element in Funchal, led on by the Jesuits, 
surrounded the house. Their howls and 
curses resounded through all that long, 
dreadful day and night, and stones fre- 
quently came crashing through the win- 
dows, while the frightened inmates lay 
concealed in a remote corner of the house. 

After midnight the mob forced an en- 



50 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

trance, beat one of the servants into 
insensibility, and with flaring torches 
made the circnit of the honse, only to 
find some dozen or more defenseless 
women clinging to one another in help- 
less terror. With renewed threats of 
violence in case the meetings were not 
discontinued, the mob at last retired, 
leaving one of the Rutherford ladies, 
who was an invalid, to die from the shock 
before another week expired. 

Among the believers, who had fre- 
quented these meetings at the home of 
the English women, was a mother and 
her two young daughters. Her husband 
had not renounced Romanism, though se- 
cretly sympathizing with the new move- 
ment, and in some clandestine way he be- 
came aware that his wife and daughters 
were in danger. Together with a friend, 
a merchant of Funchal, he arranged a 
plan for their safety. 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 51 

One at a time they walked down to the 
beach dressed in their common, every-day 
attire, as if they had gone to join the com- 
pany of bathers. It was in the early even- 
ing, and, nnnoticed by the crowd, one by 
one they were led away by the merchant 
and secreted in his honse. There were five 
of them in all — the mother, two grown 
daughters, a boy of eleven, and a child 
not yet two years old. They were in hid- 
ing some seven days before their place of 
concealment was suspected. Some Ro- 
manists then came to the merchant, say- 
ing, ^^We intend to search your house." 

^^AU right,'' said the merchant, with 
apparent frankness; ^^ come ahead; but 
you will find no one there.'' 

In great haste he sent a laborer from 
his plantation, miles away in the coun- 
try, to remove the family. They started 
at nine o'clock at night, and near morn- 
ing reached a disused cow-shed, where 



52 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

they concealed themselves under a great 
pile of bean-straw. 

In the meantime, Mr. Martin had been 
murdered, and there were evidences of a 
well-formed plan for the murder of Dr. 
Kalley. The doctor had resisted all en- 
treaties of his friends to flee, saying it 
was his duty to remain and comfort his 
sorrowing people. They had reviewed 
the situation, and, after much serious 
thought, had at length resolved to leave 
the island. Dr. Kalley had repeatedly 
said to them, by way of comfort, '' The 
ships will come for you — the ships will 
come for you.'' 

During the week that followed the 
mobbing of the Rutherford house, Dr. 
Kalley wrote to the governor of Ma- 
deira, clearly setting forth his danger ; 
and in answer, the Romanist governor 
said that the British residents upon the 
island were looked upon with ^^ mistrust 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 53 

and disgust/' and that the disturbance 
was only ^^ the fruit of the tree Dr. Kalley 
had planted on the island, and it could 
produce nothing but discord and trouble.' ' 

The doctor next addressd the English 
consul, inclosing an anonymous letter 
he had only that day received; and in 
which a full and, as it afterward ap- 
peared, a true outline of the next day's 
plan of action was given ; but from that 
source he received no promise of pro- 
tection. 

The only thing remaining to be done 
was to barricade his residence and pre- 
pare to defend his own life as best he 
could. Procuring bolts and bars, with 
the help of servants, he made the place 
as secure as possible, and at two o'clock 
the next morning was accompanying a 
friend, who had spent the night with him, 
to the outer gate. They found the gate 
slightly ajar; and standing in its shadow, 



54 A STORY OK MADEIRA. 

overheard some masked men speak of ^^ the 
killing on the morrow." One of the men 
was busily sharpening a large knife, and 
another was urging him to enter at once. 
As there had been a guard of soldiers 
stationed in front of the house early Sat- 
urday evening, ostensibly for the protec- 
tion of the missionary's household, and 
this discussion of plans had taken place 
in their presence, it was evident that the 
guard were traitors. 

Hastily pushing the gate shut, the doc- 
tor and his friend returned to the house, 
and after a prayer for Divine help in this 
moment of sore distress, the doctor made 
his escape through the rear of the house . 
in the disguise of a peasant. He climbed 
over the low stone wall surrounding the 
spacious grounds, and, creeping along in 
its shadow — for it was a clear, moonlight 
night, almost as light as day— he suc- 
ceeded in eluding the vigilance of both 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 55 

guard and mob, and made his way to the 
*^ Pinheiros/' the home of his brother-in- 
law, Dr. Miller. 

A signal was at once hoisted from the 
house, and the anxious watchers of the 
doctors household knew that, for a time 
at least, he was safe. Stealthily, one by 
one, the remaining members of the fam- 
ily followed along the same track, and 
were hidden in the ^^ Pinheiros.'' Morn- 
ing broke ; it was the Sabbath, and but 
one week since the mobbing of the Ruth- 
erford place. 

The mother and her four children had, 
by this time, returned to their first place 
of concealment in the merchant's home. 
The house had been built after a favor- 
ite fashion in Madeira, with one of the 
ground-floor rooms supporting a succes- 
sion of rooms, rising one above another. 
The roof of this tower-like addition com- 
manded a glorious view of the ocean 



56 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

and of the mountains in the back- 
ground. In the room just beneath this 
observatory were the refugees, and one of 
the surviving daughters tells the story of 
that eventful Sunday morning, her black 
eyes flashing with a vision of the strange 
sight they saw more than a half-century 
ago. It was a very still day, and they 
could distinctly hear the bells in the ca- 
thedral tower striking the time of day. 
There were bells of varying sizes, — a 
small one to strike every fifteen min- 
utes, a larger one for the half hours, 
and the largest of all for the hours. 

When eleven o'clock came, the large 
bell struck just once, and before it had 
time to strike again, a rocket went up 
in the air ; then another exploded in 
quick succession ; and, in the flash of an 
eye, from the cathedral, from behind trees 
and walls, from everywhere, there came 
pouring out men dressed entirel}^ in 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 57 

white — white trousers, white coats, white 
shirts, and white hats. It was not a cos- 
tume of Madeira — such a sight had never 
been seen before — but it was a precon- 
certed sign by which the Romanists were 
to know one another. 

The men turned, and swept up the 
street toward Dr. Kalley's place, never 
doubting that he was inside; but at that 
very moment he was taken out of the 
^^ Pinheiros ^^ in a hammock, disguised in 
woman's attire, and, covered over with a 
linen sheet, was being hurried down to 
the shore by two bearers. And O, the 
prayers that followed him ! 

At first one of the bearers refused to 
carry the hammock without knowing who 
was inside of it ; but the impression pre- 
vailed that it was a sick English lady 
being carried to board an Euglish steamer 
then lying at anchor in the harbor, and he 
was persuaded to go on. The crowd had 



58 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

now broken into Dr. Kalley's house, and, 
after searching through every part of it and 
finding their prey gone, they had taken 
his library — ten thousand dollars' worth of 
books — and his valuable surgical instru- 
ments, into the street. They beat them 
with sticks, and there set fire to them ; and 
while the fire was burning, it was noised 
abroad that the missionary had escaped. 
One of the bearers, perhaps having a 
strong suspicion that all was not as he 
was led to believe, drew a corner of the 
sheet aside; but Dr. Kalley's friend, who 
walked beside the hammock, rearranged 
the covering and they proceeded again. 
Finally the same bearer declared he could 
go no further, that //it was hell for him ;'' 
but again his suspicions were quieted, 
and they went on. Three several times 
they stopped, and as many times were 
persuaded to continue. At last the shore 
was reached, the hammock was placed 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 59 

in a boat, and they rapidly pnshed ont 
to sea. 

Then the men came from the vain 
search, and in an instant the whole bay 
was alive with little boats, manned by 
the men in white. 

Dr. Kalley's boat pnlled alongside the 
steamer, and he was qnickly taken aboard, 
still in the hammock. The men came 
close to the vessel's side, and demanded 
of the captain whether or not the mis- 
sionary was on board. The captain tried 
to allay their suspicions ; but seeing they 
were bent on an unequivocal answer, he 
went below, and told Dr. Kalley he had 
better allow himself to be seen ; and pres- 
ently the doctor came on deck, leaning on 
the captain's arm. He knew he was safe. 
A brave man commanded the English 
ship, and above them, bold and high, 
floated the Union Jack ! 

For one moment there was intense 



6o A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

stillness, as the missionary drew himself 
np to his full, splendid height, and fear- 
lessly stood before them. Then such a 
prolonged howl of rage burst from the 
throats of those baffled men that it is 
said the sound of it, reaching shore, was 
like the sound of the ocean as the wind 
roars over it in a winter's storm. 

There was nothing left to do but wreak 
their vengeance on the senseless objects 
in Dr. Kalley's house. So they returned 
to shore, broke every pane of window- 
glass in the house, destroyed every article 
of furniture, and sent cobble-stones crash- 
ing into the house until, it is said, they 
lay as thick on the floor as they lay out- 
side in the street. Other houses of the 
converts were visited and despoiled in the 
same manner. 

One woman tells of concealing herself 
in the thick foliage of a grape-arbor ; but 
the outcry of a little child, hiding with 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 6 1 

her, discovered them to a party of the 
mob. She was dragged from among the 
vines, and strnck in the face by one of 
the men. 

All this time the consnl was inactive. 
He had laid aside his consular dress, and 
had caused the English flag to be taken 
down from above the consular residence; 
and a consul in a ^^ sailor's round jacket, '' 
who walked about amidst the mob and 
viewed its depredations, did not inspire 
that wholesome awe which might have 
been expected in a Portuguese mob in 
presence of Her British Majesty's official 
representative. 

The governor, who had all the forces 
of the island at his command, refused to 
allow them to interfere; though, to their 
honor it is said, there were both military 
and civil officers of the Government who 
pleaded for permission to stay the vio- 
lence of the conspirators. Colonel Tax- 



62 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

eiro, commander of the Funchal garrison, 
who wished to disperse them, but was for- 
bidden to do so by the governor, deter- 
mined to act independently of all orders 
from him in case other riots should 
occur. This was not that these officials 
sympathized with the religious faith of 
Dr. Kalley and his followers, but rather 
that they deprecated lawless violence, and 
had all the soldier's high regard for the 
law of the land and the dignity of human 
life and personal liberty. 

Later, England demanded and obtained 
full indemnity for Dr. Kalley's pecuniary 
losses, and the Queen of Portugal was 
forced into dismissing the governor and 
instituting an ofi&cial inquiry ; though that 
was but a farce, after all, resulting in the 
acquittal of all concerned in the opera- 
tions of the mob. 

There is but one conclusion, and that 
is, there was collusion between the ec- 



PERSECUTIONS BEGUN. 63 

clesiastical and the civil powers in thus 
violating the courtesy of nations, and set- 
ting aside the sacred obligations of a 
treaty. 

And, too, this story of wrong and vio- 
lence done to a law-abiding British sub- 
ject, a philanthropist in the very broadest 
sense of that word, and to scores of in- 
offensive men and women, who suffered 
in the same spirit of patience as the ear- 
lier martyrs had done, who never gave 
railing for railing, and who asked for 
nothing more than the privilege of wor- 
shiping God in sincere and simple fash- 
ion, — offers most incontrovertible, and 
damaging testimony against the broad 
toleration which the Roman Catholics af- 
fect in our own tolerant country. 

Here is no tale of the Dark Ages, when 
the lawless times and the fiercer temper 
of men pleaded in their own excuse; but 
as history of the very middle of our^pres- 



64 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

ent century, it is most clear and indis- 
putable evidence of the unchangeable 
spirit of Romanism, that yet dreams of 
dominating the world by the power of 
soft persuasion or the exterminating 
sword, as the times allow\ 



Chapter IIL 

ESCAPE OF THE CONVERTS. 

THE two weeks following the escape 
of Dr. Kalley were weeks of trial to 
the pursued and persecuted people. They 
fled to the mountains, to the thickets, or 
wherever retreat offered, in many in- 
stances leaving their homes in flames and 
their worldly possessions to the destruc- 
tion of their Roman Catholic neighbors. 
There was no protection for them any- 
where in the island; but out in the bay 
there lay at anchor an Bnglish merchant- 
vessel and some men-of-war. These men- 
of-war fired their guns by way of a sign 
to the hunted creatures that, though their 
own Government might refuse them its 
defense, there was at least safety on board 

an* English ship. A consular reprimand 

65 



66 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

was given, but it was unnoticed; and at 
intervals, through all those fourteen dread- 
ful days and nights, there still came across 
the quiet waters of the bay that friendly, 
steady voice of Bnglish guns — those 
short, sharp volleys, that everywhere, in 
all waters, denoted the presence of English 
strength. 

Secretly, by night, the people made 
their way to the shore, and were taken on 
board the merchantman, the William of 
Glasgow. 

There are scores of men and women 
yet living who recall, as if it had been 
but yesterday, the incidents of those 
crowded days that impressed themselves 
upon their childish minds. One woman, 
then a child of eight years, remembers 
her father nightly guarding his dwelling, 
while the mother, with two little girls 
clinging to her skirts and her baby in 
her arms, made her way painfully through 



ESCAPE OF THE CONVERTS. 67 

the pine-thickets, a half-mile from the 
house, to sleep upon the bare ground, 
under the open sky. 

They were among the first to take 
refuge in the William of Glasgow, It 
was at one o'clock in the morning when 
they made their way down to the beach, 
and were taken out to the vessel in one 
of the small boats. The little craft was 
so heavily freighted that they narrowly 
escaped drowning. 

^^And my mother was always so timid 
of the water,'' continues my narrator. 
^^ Why, she never could be persuaded even 
to stand on the beach and watch the 
waves; but that night she clasped my 
little brother close in her arms, and with 
my little sister and me clinging hold of 
her, she sang, O so loud and clear!" 

And she sang the song for me in her 
native tongue — sang it through gathering 
tears — a wild, sweet melody, with a tri- 



68 A STORY OF^ MADEIRA. 

umpliant note running through it, that 
I could well fancy rising high above the 
splash of the waves, the heavy straining 
of the oars, and even above a weak wo- 
man's fears. 

There was sad breaking of home-ties 
in many instances. The mother, who, 
with her four children, had been given a 
refuge in the merchant's home, parted 
from her husband, not to see him again 
for three long years, and then, after a 
brief reunion, she left him lying in a 
South American burying-ground, while 
she went on alone to find a home in an- 
other and strange continent. 

There was romance, too. A young 
girl, who was the only convert out of her 
family, left home in the night to join her 
betrothed, and marry him on shipboard. 
Before leaving, she stole through the fa- 
miliar rooms of her birthplace, and, in 
spirit, bade farewell to her mother and 



ESCAPE OE THE CONVERTS. 69 

the other members of the family, as they 
were asleep. She is an old woman now, 
and has never looked npon their faces 
since that night. 

On the 23d of Angnst, 1846, the vessel 
slowly sailed out of the harbor into the 
open sea, carrying two hundred and eleven 
refugees. They had in very truth, for- 
saken all and followed Christ. Many of 
them were in rags, their garments having 
been worn out by contact with the briers 
and underbrush of the mountains. All 
were without money ; for the current 
proverb, *^ No law for Calvinists,'' had 
been followed to its last extremity by 
their Roman Catholic debtors and kins- 
folk. But it was the universal testimony 
that no word of complaint escaped them. 
On the contrary, hymns of praise and 
prayers to Heaven for their persecutors, 
who ^^knew not what they did,'^ rose con- 
stantly from the midst of the little band. 



70 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

One of the passengers, who observed 
them, exclaimed: ^^ If I were called npon 
to choose a religion suddenly and with- 
out further thought, I should fix upon 
that of these people, because they suffer 
so uncomplainingly.'' 

Their course lay in the direction of 
Trinidad, the island in the mouth of the 
Orinoco, under the dominion of Great 
Britain. The passage of the two hun- 
dred and eleven exiles was arranged for 
by British planters, who were then in 
great need of laborers on their sugar plan- 
tations; but the natural explanation re- 
moves none of the impressiveness of a 
divine interposition at a time when peo- 
ple are in great extremity. Dr. Kalley's 
faith was honored, and the simple-hearted 
people's prayers for deliverance were an- 
swered — the English ships had come ! 

In Trinidad was a strange mixture of 
races, and the Roman Catholic was still 



ESCAPE OF THE CONVERTS. 7 1 

the dominant religion ; but there was at 
least freedom of worship guaranteed to 
the Protestant Portuguese by the English 
occupancv of the island. Here also came 
Mr. Hevvitson, who was sent among them 
to reorganize the Church, which had, of 
course, lost its early organic form. Other 
exiles were constantly arriving, their pass- 
ports having been granted by the civil 
authorities of Funchal, who were per- 
suaded to avail themselves of this oppor- 
tunity to rid the island of the trouble- 
some heretics. 

The number who thus left Madeira was 
in the neighborhood of one thousand per- 
sons, and that the very best blood of the 
country ; but the bishop proclaimed a 
solemn assembly in the churches, and or- 
dered the Te Deum sung in thanksgiving 
that ^^the wolves'' had been providen- 
tially cast out of the fold. 

Mr. Hewitson's impaired health per- 



72 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

mitted him to remain but two months, 
and in his stead came Mr. Da Silva, a 
native-born pastor, with newly-received 
orders from the Free Church of Scotland. 

Mr. Da Silva was the possessor of great 
inherited wealth, and was of high social 
standing in Funchal. His daughter was 
the wife of a judge, and the influence of 
his son-in-law for a considerable time 
protected him from the more violent per- 
secutions ; but at last he, too, was com- 
pelled to flee for his life, leaving his wife, 
child, home, and fortune forever. 

When his name, as pastor, was first 
suggested to the congregation in Trini- 
dad, the people were asked to raise their 
hands in approval, and it is said the en- 
tire congregation instantly rose as one 
man, and extended their hands as high as 
they could. He was received with demon- 
strations of great joy by the little com- 
pany of his fellow-sufferers; but it was a 



ESCAPE OF THE CONVERTS. 73 

hard field of. labor, extending some twelve 
or fourteen miles inland, and embracing 
some smaller islands lying about Trini- 
dad. There was a deep personal note in 
the relation of pastor and people, and it 
is related that every morning Mr. Da 
Silva would make the circuit of his par- 
ishioners' homes near by, knock at the 
doors, and call them to a morning praise 
service before attending to the duties of 
the day. 

The climate of Trinidad was very try- 
ing upon the Portuguese, unaccustomed 
to such extreme heat, and the necessity 
of working in the midst of the irrigating 
ditches of the sugar plantations brought 
on malarial fever. Hundreds died from 
the exposure, and in the comparatively 
healthful locality of the capital. Port of 
Spain, there were but precarious means 
of gaining a livelihood. 

The sufferings of the people were very 



74 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

great, and, as there was no chance of ob- 
taining freeholds, it was determined that 
they emigrate to the United States. The 
people had earned the means for the pay- 
ment of their own passage to New York, 
and once there, were aided as it became 
necessary by the American Protestant 
Society. Here their pastor, Mr. Da Silva, 
who had preceded the greater part of his 
flock, and made the voyage in great fee- 
bleness of body, rapidly grew worse. The 
dying words of the Prince of Orange 
were, ^^God pity this poor people,'^ and 
even so the burden of this faithful man 
of God's thonght was ever of his scat- 
tered and persecuted brethren. 

But it was not permitted for him to 
pass over into their promised land with 
them, and on one of the bitterly cold days 
of that tr57ing winter of 1848 he was laid 
to rest. The American friends who gath- 
ered in the church that day to pay a last 



KSCAPK OF THK CONVERTS. 75 

respect to the dead were moved to tears 
as the whole body of homeless, friendless 
exiles rose in their seats and nnited their 
voices in a tremulons song of their native 
tongue. "" 

In October of the following year, in 
response to an invitation from a commit- 
tee, including the governor of the State, 
the exiles came to Illinois, and settled 
permanently, part of them in Springfield, 
and the rest in Jacksonville. One other 
settlement was also formed, but later was 
abandoned. In 1850 a native pastor was 
installed over the Churches, sent out by 
the Free Church of Scotland, and for 
three years supported by that body. Dr. 
Kalley came later, and for a brief time 
resided with the converts, and assisted in 
the ministry of the regular pastor. 

As evidence of the integrity of the 
original company of Portuguese, it is re- 
lated that a number of them, as they be- 



76 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

came able, desired to purchase permanent 
homes on the outskirts of Jacksonville. 
One of the number was selected to attend 
to the business details, and he secured a 
tract of land containing fifty-five acres, 
which was to be divided among some ten 
or more men. Each of the number made 
his payment for one, two, three, or five 
acres, as they severally desired, and gave 
it into the hands of their chosen repre- 
sentative. He gathered the money to- 
gether — it was all in coin — and, carrying 
it in a wicker basket brought from the 
old country, made the entire payment, and 
received a deed made out to him alone. 
In the course of time he gave to each 
man his separate deed ; but there was no 
hurry about it, there had never been a 
scrap of paper either asked or given in 
acknowledgment of the funds he held in 
trust. They believed in one another, 
these pure-hearted people who had lived 



KSCAPK OI^ THK CONVERTS. 77 

through perilous times, facing death and 
danger together. And the truth had 
penetrated their inner life so very deeply 
that the}^ conformed their habits to its 
severe and simple teachings, and followed 
out Paul's charge to ^^lead quiet and 
peaceable lives in all godliness and hon- 
esty/' 

They were a home-loving, unaffected 
people, and reflected the nobler qualities 
of the Portuguese race, coming as they 
did from the sturdy middle class, which 
contains the source of strength in all 
countries. Their wants were few and 
easily attained, and the peasant virtues of 
frugality and industry are their marked 
characteristics. 

Their men were brave soldiers, and 
fought during our Civil War as faithfully 
for the Union as did any native-born pa- 
triots. The captain of one Illinois com- 
pany bore testimony to the soldierly qual- 



78 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

ities of the Portuguese men wlio served 
under him by declaring that if he ever 
went to war again he would prefer to lead 
a company composed strictly of Portu- 
guese. 

They love our flag, they rejoice in the 
freedom it stands for ; and in view of all 
they have suffered at the hands of the 
Roman Catholic Church, it is perhaps 
not to be wondered at that these surviv- 
ors of the persecutions of Madeira fear 
the presence of this power within our 
borders as the visible token, not only of 
all that is most intolerant in human 
creeds, but of all that is subversive of the 
principles of human justice in govern- 
ments. 

For almost fifty years this trans- 
planted people has given allegiance to 
our Government, accepting its freedom, 
and honoring its laws ; though they have 
dwelt apart, preserving their speech, and 



BSCAPK OK THK CONVERTS. 79 

holding to the habits of the old country. 
But no people, save the Hebrew, can ever 
hope perfectly to maintain a race barrier, 
and as the original exiles have been pass- 
ing away, the new generations that have 
risen to take their places are Americans. 
The circumstances under which the 
fathers came, expatriated them so thor- 
oughly that they could hand down to 
their children no love of their own native 
country. The language is dying out, and 
English is beginning to be spoken in the 
Church services. American sons have 
found the Portuguese daughters ^^fair to 
look upon,^^ and within another half cen- 
tury the absorption into the stronger 
English race will be complete, and only 
the beautiful story of the exiles from 
Madeira will remain among us. 



Chapter IV^ 

MISSIONS IN NEW LANDS^ 

ONCK more glancing backward to the 
history of the mother country, we 
find the Portuguese sailors continuing 
their search for the sea route to the In- 
dies. In 1497, Vasco Da Gama doubled 
the Cape of Good Hope, and reached 
India by sea ; and that event marks the 
entrance upon the heroic age of Portu- 
guese history. The fifteenth century 
will always be characterized by historians 
as an age of unrest. While Charles the 
Fifth was fighting the awakening spirit 
of civil and religious liberty in his Dutch 
provinces, and England was in the per- 
ilous hours preceding the birth of the 
Reformation, and France was quenching 

the life of the new faith, Portugal was at 

80 



> 

o 
o 

DO 
O 
73 

m 

O 
po 

H 

tn 

73 




MISSIONS IN NKW I.ANDS. 8l 

rest from these internal dissensions. It 
is true the Inquisition was established 
within her borders ; but the new faith had 
made slight progress among the conserva- 
tive Portuguese, and the awakening ener- 
gies of the race found an outlet in the 
enterprises of the far Bast. 

The adventurers penetrated into China 
and Japan. Settlements were formed in 
both these countries, in India, and the 
outlying islands of the South Pacific. 
These settlements required the protec- 
tion of military force, and during that 
eventful century Portugal sent the best 
blood of the nation to maintain her su- 
premacy. 

The story of this forcible occupation 
of India reads like a romance, and the 
wild dream of Portugal that she would 
some day establish a powerful empire in 
the East, which would eventually absorb 
all the other Oriental powers, seems not 



82 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

altogether impossible of fulfillment in 
view of what the little nation actually 
did accomplish. 

The commercial power of Venice was 
transferred to Lisbon, which now became 
the great entrepot for the Eastern prod- 
ucts. Merchants from all over Europe 
came to Lisbon to lay in their stocks of 
spices from the Spice Islands, the pepper 
of the Malabar coast, the teas and silks of 
China, the calicoes of Calicut, and the 
muslins of Bengal. The king of Portu- 
gal was known as the richest sovereign 
in Christendom, and alliances with the 
reigning house were eagerly sought by the 
noblest families of Europe. Lisbon was 
the greatest commercial center of the 
world. 

In one of the earlier expeditions toward 
the East, conducted by Pedro Alvares Ca- 
bral, he was driven by stress of weather 
towards the open western seas. Thus, by 



MISSIONS IN NEW I.ANDS. 83 

chance, he discovered what is now known 
as Brazil. As it contained no established 
empire, and seemed a country fitted only 
for agricultural purposes, it was not con- 
sidered an acquisition of much importance. 
The first settlers were convicts and aban- 
doned women, forcibly deported from Por- 
tugal ; but later the peasants in large num- 
bers sought homes there, and before the 
end of the fifteenth century, Brazil had 
become a flourishing dependency of the 
Portuguese power. 

Portugal had risen slowly to her proud 
eminence among the nations of Burope, 
and her prosperity contained the seeds 
of her decay. It is the old and oft-re- 
peated story of luxury enervating the 
forces of a nation. Then, too, the colo- 
nization of Brazil, of various points on 
the African coast, of Madeira, the Azores, 
Mozambique, of strategic points in In- 
dia, of the islands of the East Indies, and 



84 A STORY OF MADKIRA. 

of points in China and Japan had neces- 
sarily exhausted her vitality. Embroil- 
ing herself with European quarrels, the 
enterprising and more practical Dutch 
had stolen a march on her, and were fast 
absorbing the Eastern trade. They went 
to the Orient as private speculators in 
their own ships, caring nothing for do- 
minion, and requiring no costly armies 
to sustain them. In the end they con- 
quered by the superior strength of Dutch 
persistence, and Portugal's dream of em- 
pire in the East was over. Then, in 
1578 came the news of the death of Dom 
Sebastian and of the destruction of his 
army. There was not a noble family in 
Portugal but mourned the loss of one or 
more representatives in that stricken 
army o^ young Crusaders, and there was 
not a loyal citizen in the kingdom but 
knew the glory of Portugal had departed. 
The alarm reached to India, and the brave 



MISSIONS IN NEW IvANDS. 85 

old viceroy died of a broken heart at the 
news. 

In less than four years, Portugal was 
a dependency of the Spanish crown, and 
was entering upon that mournful period 
of her history known as the '' Sixty Years' 
Captivity.'' At the end of that time she 
succeeded in throwing off the hated Cas- 
tilian yoke, but it was as one of the minor 
and insignificant powers of Europe she 
came into her own again. In past glory 
alone she is great. And through all these 
years Brazil was expanding into a vigor- 
ous young country, with a teeming pop- 
ulation. 

It was to this people of the Portuguese 
tongue that Dr. Kalley, in the early fif- 
ties, directed his later energies. His wife 
having died some years previous, the 
doctor spent some time in travel, after he 
had been compelled to abandon Madeira. 
While in Palestine, he had been called to 



86 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

attend upon a gentleman who was seek- 
ing restoration to health in that mild 
climate. His daughter was accompany- 
ing the invalid, and this lady, whom he 
met in this way, afterward became the 
wife of Dr. Kalley, 

Later, the doctor joined the settlement 
in Illinois, and for a year dwelt among 
these people of his first ministry, assist- 
ing the native-born pastor in his duties, 
and sustaining a relation to the people 
that was rather paternal than anything 
else. 

A question had arisen among the 
Churches in regard to the validity of the 
Romish baptism. Dr. Kalley, after long 
and serious thought upon the subject, 
gave it as his opinion that, inasmuch as 
the Romish Church had so far departed 
from the simplicity of faith, and as the 
priesthood was a corrupt priesthood, it 
was better for the converts from the an- 



MISSIONS IN NEW LANDS. 87 

cient Church to be rebaptized. Trivial 
as the question now seems, and of no im- 
portance ever but to a single generation 
of men, it created much discussion, and 
finally resulted in a division of the 
Church — one body holding to the opinion 
that the Romish baptism was sufficient, 
and the other body insisting upon the re- 
baptism of an applicant before being ad- 
mitted to membership. The rupture 
grieved Dr. Kalley, and he at once dis- 
continued his ministry among the people, 
and sailed for Brazil, once more bound 
upon an independent mission. Estab- 
lishing himself in Rio Janeiro, he began 
work with much the same methods which 
had borne such fruit in Madeira. 

It was a new and unworked mission- 
field, and as definite results began to ap- 
pear, the hostility of the Romanists was 
aroused, and the attention of the Govern- 
ment was directed towards the infant 



88 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

mission. In a Privy Council of the em- 
pire, the matter of expelling Dr. Kalley 
from Brazil was argued, the emperor him- 
self bearing a part in the discussion. 

Dom Pedro was a broad-minded, liberal 
man, who had at heart the real interests 
of his subjects, and who made himself 
personally conversant with the affairs of 
the empire. He was, in many respects, 
the first Brazilian of his time. One who 
was personally acquainted with them all, 
compared the four emperors — the French, 
the Austrian, the Russian, and Brazil- 
ian — and affirmed that Dom Pedro was 
the superior of the four. Though a Ro- 
manist himself, he was not a bigot. Per- 
haps his Italian empress and his German 
mother had helped to widen his sympa- 
thies, as his love of learning had cer- 
tainly enlarged his mental vision. It is 
said it was a custom of his to entertain, 
in his official residence of Sao Christovao, 



MISSIONS IN NKW IvANDS. 89 

travelers coming from foreign countries, 
that he might stndy their various lan- 
guages and become familiar with their 
customs. 

He had interested himself in the Scotch 
missionary, and had even called upon 
him in person. It was doubtless due to 
the influence of the emperor that it was 
decided, in the Privy Council, Dr. Kalley 
might remain and pursue his work. 

The Brazilians have not that nobility 
of character found among the Portuguese. 
They are more given to the baser vices 
of mankind, and are more indifferent to 
civilizing influences ; but they have the 
inquiring disposition that leads them to 
listen to the presentation of new truths. 
They are fond of argument, always de- 
siring to hear both sides well and fairly 
given. 

But they were not so responsive as 
their kinsmen of the older country. 



90 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

Even the adherents of the established 
religion were not so firm in their attach- 
ment. A spirit of irreligion which is 
harder to overcome than pronounced op- 
position was abroad in the land. This 
indifference w^as especially marked among 
the Brazilian men. ^^We leave that to 
the women/' they would answer lightly 
when approached upon the subject of re- 
ligion. And so the work progressed much 
more slowly than it had done in Madeira, 
because of this inherent difference in the 
two peoples of a common stock. 

Dr. Kalley's second wife was a lady of 
large fortune, and her heart was fully in 
her husband's work; and, true to his early 
idea, the doctor organized his work upon 
a self-supporting basis. 

In Madeira, the source of his power 
had been his medical skill, which has 
ever been the missionary's most effective 
human weapon; but in Brazil it was even 



MISSIONS IN NEW LANDS. 9I 

a disadvantage to him. The native phy- 
sicians, though not well qualified in the 
profession, were extremely jealous of all 
foreign doctors, and, adapting himself to 
the altered conditions, Dr. Kalley made 
no attempt to extend his practice beyond 
the converts he soon organized into a 
Church. 

This Church, built of Dr. Kalley^s mu- 
nificence, in cosmopolitan Rio Janeiro, 
became the center of a new life, that was 
to engraft itself upon the decaying body 
of Roman Catholic Brazil. Dr. Kalley 
taught and trained his converts after the 
manner of the early Church fathers, and 
insisted upon correct living as the neces- 
sary outcome of true believing. 

The priests had so thoroughly in- 
structed the people in the devious wind- 
ings of mental reservations, and the ad- 
visability of lying when the object to be 
gained was a good one, that the psalmist 



9^ A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

might have said of the Brazilians, with- 
out any after-confession of haste, ^^All 
men are liars. '^ Dr. Kalley's followers 
were distinctively known as persons who 
spoke the severe and simple truth, and it 
has since passed into a proverb in Brazil 
that the word of a Protestant needs no 
bond to support it. 

There was no Sabbath in the land. 
Saints^ days were observed until after the 
morning mass ; but the Lord's day passed 
like any other ordinary day of the busy 
week. 

Dr. Kalley's followers were further 
distinguished as Sabbath observers. One 
of the converts was a native of Portugal, 
who had engaged in the manufacture of 
hats in a humble way. The probability 
was that his business would suffer by 
shutting down on Sunday ; but he did 
not hesitate to keep the day of rest be- 
cause of that. A brother, who was a 



MISSIONS IN NKW I.ANDS. 93 

priest in Portugal, had some money in- 
vested in the enterprise, and when he was 
informed of the proposed change, wrote 
back : ^' I care not whether you keep 
open or closed on Sunday, only let me 
be assured my money is safe.'' , 

It is a strange fact that after the hat- 
ter's conversion and subsequent observ- 
ance of the Sabbath, his business grew 
from its humble beginnings into great 
proportions. He was the winner of one 
of the gold medals in our Centennial Bx- 
position at Philadelphia, and became one 
of the wealthy men of Rio Janeiro, his 
consecration keeping pace with the in- 
crease of his worldly possessions. His 
gift of ten thousand dollars, with Dr. 
Kalley's gift of a like sum, made possible 
the building of a forty thousand-dollar 
church in the city when the mission had 
grown into permanency. This increase 
in material prosperity is so frequently 



94 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

marked in mission-fields that, beyond the 
fact that clean living and right thinking 
give to persons an added mental and 
physical vigor in whatever calling in life 
they pnrsue, there does seem to be some- 
thing very like the operation of the an- 
cient law which bronght prosperity to a 
Hebrew in proportion to the righteous- 
ness of his life. 

The same increase in individual cases 
might be more obvious among us of the 
enlightened people if men regulated their 
lives by the austere precepts of the gos- 
pel as does a newly-converted heathen, 
who is opening his mind and heart, like 
a thirsty flower lifting its chalice to the 
down-falling of a beneficent rain, to a di- 
rect revelation from the Most High, which 
he has never even heard mention of in all 
his life up to that wonderful moment. 
When one hears the Truth like that, be- 



MISSIONS IN NEW LANDS. 95 

lieving, it is ample compensation for 
having been born a heathen. 

With Dr. Kalley were associated a 
nnmber of Bible-readers, whose duties 
were to visit from house to house. He 
supported these men and their families 
from his own private purse. A Church 
was founded in the city of Rio Grande, 
across the bay from Rio Janeiro, and an- 
other one in Pernambuco. These three 
Churches were Presbyterian in spirit and 
doctrine, though never actually identified 
with the Church at large. Dr. Kalley's 
wealth largely supported them all ; but 
in time they became self-supporting. 

During their residence in Rio Janeiro 
the doctor and his wife adopted a boy, 
whom they educated. He has been for 
many years engaged in evangelizing 
among the Jews, though he himself is 
not of that race. 



96 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

Dr. Kalley personally served the Church 
in the great capital city of the empire 
for more than twenty years, but failing 
strength and advancing years at last com- 
pelled his retirement from the work he 
loved so well. As his successor in Rio 
Janeiro he named a young man whom he 
had personally trained and sent. back to 
London for a three years^ course in Spur- 
geon's Pastors' College. Breathing the 
spirit of his devoted missionary father, 
and of the famous London divine as well, 
he has proved himself a worthy successor 
in this natural center of a great and fast- 
spreading mission. 

In his old home in Edinburgh, Dr. 
Kalley passed the remainder of his days ; 
and when the news of his death was car- 
ried across the water, there was sorrow in 
many lands, and tears — such tears as 
never fall save for the loss of some high- 
souled man who has loved his fellow-men 



> 

O 
> 

a 

H 

> 

H 

o 

H 

m 



O 
G 

H 

> 

5 




MISSIONS IN NKW LANDS. 97 

with a deep and self-abnegating love, and 
has given the strength of his years to lift 
them nearer Christ. 

He was bnried in his beloved Scotland. 
A simple stone of Scotch granite marks 
his resting-place, and it bears this faith- 
ful record 

'' Till He comes, 
in 
Tender and reverent memory of 
Robert Rkid Kai,i,e:y, M. D. 
Born Sep. 8th, 1809. 
Fell asleep, Jan. 17th, 1888. 
A servant of God 
in 
Madeira, Brazil, and other lands. 

His delight was in the law of the Lord, and in His 
law did he meditate day and night ; whose faith follow, 
considering the end of his conversation in 
Jesus Christ, 
The same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 

Moved by a desire permanently to pre- 
serve some expression of their love and 
gratitude, the Brazilians caused an in- 



98 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

scribed tablet to be placed in the wall of 
the church at the right of the tomb, and 
upon the left is a similar mural tablet, 
presented by the Illinois Churches, which 
bears this insciption: 

" To the beloved and honored memory 

of 

Their father in the gospel, 

Dr. Kai,i,ky ; 

From the Churches of the 

Madeirenses 

' Scattered abroad ' 

in 1846: 

By Romish persecution, 

1838 to 1883. 

' The name of the Lord Jesus Christ was magnified.' " 



Chapter V* 

IN BRAZIL. 

IT may be said of Dr. Kalley that he 
was the pioneer of missionaries in 
Brazil. The Presbyterian Church later 
occuped the field which his individual 
enterprise had opened. Six Presbyteries 
under one general and independent Synod 
now cover the territory in which are 
nearly fifteen million souls, the Presby- 
terian Chuch, South, supporting its own 
missionaries, the Presbyterian Church 
supporting the ones to whom that body 
has given authority, — all working har- 
moniously in one great, common cause. 

The main entering wedge in Brazil has 
been the educational facilities afforded by 
the Church of the missionaries. 

A school was founded in Rio Janeiro; 

99 



lOO A STORY OF^ MADEIRA. 

but the unheal th fulness of that city dur- 
ing certain months in the year compelled 
its removal to the city of Sao Paulo, 
three hundred miles southwest of the 
capital, in the salubrious, mountainous 
part of the province of Sao Paulo. Five 
hundred students are in attendance. The 
work is mainly for the training of native 
ministers and teachers ; but all depart- 
ments of instruction, even to kindergar- 
ten, are equipped. 

During the reign of Dom Pedro, the 
emperor and his suite made a visit of 
inspection. After he had carefully in- 
quired into the course of instruction, and 
had been conducted through the institu- 
tion, he exclaimed with delight, in the 
presence of his ministers, '' There is noth- 
ing like it in the empire.'^ 

This visit of the great man is still re- 
membered by the missionary teachers, . 
who, though aliens themselves, shared in 



IN BRAZII,. lOI 

the general enthusiasm as Dom Pedro 
rode through the streets, bowing to right 
and left, his fine face wearing a smile as 
he caught the acclamations of his loyal 
and delighted subjects. But even then 
there was a strong undercurrent of feel- 
ing throughout the empire against the 
perpetuation of the monarchy, that found 
expression in a muttered discontent when- 
ever the haughty figure of Dom Pedro's 
son-in-law, who had not the grace even to 
incline his head in acknowledgment of the 
salutations of the Brazilians, appeared in 
the presence of the people. Even upon 
that day, in Sao Paulo, there was a pass- 
ing and suppressed whisper of, '' Wait 
until Dom Pedro's day is over; then we 
shall see whether a Jesuit shall rule the 
empire." 

The school at Sao Paulo brought the 
missionaries in contact with a higher or- 
der of people than are usually accessible 



I()2 A S'I^)I<V ()l< MAhl^lI^A. 

to forciq-ncrs. A 11101114 llioni was a bar- 
oness, llir iiu'iiihcrs of wliosr family have 
evcM' since been inllnciilial workers in the 
vSao Panlo Chnreh. Thronj^h tlic kinder- 
j^arlen leac her, w lio was a woman of rare 
j^raees, the i» raiKKIiihbc'ii ol a senator, 
wealthy and of a iiobk' house, were 
reaclie(L The senator hinisell was ad- 
vanee(l in yeais, and, whiU' he did not 
beeoiiie a believer, i^ax'e his consent to his 
laniily acH'ept iiii^ the new laitli. 

** I am too old to ehanj^e,'^ he said, 
*^ and i)re(er to die in the bosom of my 
CluiK h." Ibit a few \'ears later, no less 
than t\\cMit\' members of his family had 
united with the Chnreh. 

Their lia\i' been some lix'e or six 
priests to renonnee their laith. One of 
tliem seems to ha\'e been a man of sini^n- 
lar nobilit\' of eharaeter. When he bei^an 
his studies for the i)riesthood, a icdative, 
who \)\ some elianec^ had bec*ome ])os- 



IN BRAZIL. 103 

sessed of a Bible, gave it to the young 
mail, thinking it would be of more use to 
a priest than to him. It was not a book, 
however, to which much importance was 
attached in his course of instruction. 
There were books on theology, many and 
various, and books concerning the institu- 
tions, the doctrines, and ceremonies of the 
Church, but not much of the Bible in any 
of them. 

He read, and perceived the wide di- 
vergence of his Church from the spirit of 
the early Church of the apostles, and 
then began a struggle which lasted for 
eighteen years. He entered upon the 
work for which he had fitted and fulfilled 
his priestly duties ; but he afterward said, 
^^I knew I was preaching lies whenever I 
stood before my people.'' 

Over his diocese was a bishop w^ho had 
a conscience, too. They often talked 
over the matter which was troubling the 



I04 A STORY OI^ MADEIRA. 

heart of the younger man, and once the 
priest daringly preached for two hours in 
the presence of his ecclesiastical superior. 
It was an unmistakably genuine and fer- 
vent gospel sermon ; but the bishop only 
listened and held his peace, not even rep- 
rimanding him privately. There was 
something in the close fraternal relations 
of these two which was very much like 
the sentiment holding Luther, during the 
years of his doubt, to Staupitz. Finally 
the long and agonizing conflict ended in 
the priest's withdrawal from the Roman 
Catholic Church, and his union with the 
Church of the Presbyterian missionaries. 
He became a minister, and organized 
a Church of seventy members in the town 
of Brotas, in which he had been for so 
many years a priest. His blameless life, 
and the eloquence with which he pro- 
claimed the gospel, made him a power in 
the Church. His converts caught his 



IN BRAZII,. 105 

zeal. Two brothers, who had been re- 
claimed from Romanism by him, made a 
journey of two hundred miles that a third 
brother, who lived in the mining district, 
might also become a partaker of the faith. 
He was converted during the visit, and a 
Church of fourteen members, which con- 
sisted of his own family alone, was organ- 
ized. 

In the vicinity of Brotas there lived a 
man who was the terror of his part of the 
country. He was a man of powerful frame 
and great strength, and was of so quar- 
relsome a disposition that his neighbors 
shunned him and fled at his approach. 
He always carried a huge dirk in his belt, 
and in one of his encounters had killed 
a man. But remorse sometimes visited 
him, and during one of these times of 
mental agony he called a servant, and 
sent him with a cow to the parish priest. 

^^Tell the father,'^ he said, ^^to say as 



Io6 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

many masses for my soul as the value of 
the cow. I must have peace." 

The holy father accepted the cow, and 
said the masses — perhaps. But the man 
received no answering peace, and at last, 
in despair, ordered his horse, and rode to- 
wards the house of a neighbor, one of the 
brothers who were of the ex-priest's re- 
cent converts. Some one had told him 
of a new book which this man had, that 
seemed to have a strange power in quieting 
the passions and fears of a human heart. 

In considerable fear and hesitation the 
master of the house advanced to meet his 
guest, and with surprise learned of his 
wish to hear the Bible read. He turned 
to the Book of John, and read about 
^^the light that shineth in darkness,'' and 
read on until dinner-time. After dinner 
he read until evening, and then his self- 
invited guest left, saying : 

^^I want my wife to hear about this." 



IN BRAZIIv. 107 

The next day he brought her with him, 
and the reading continued steadily for 
several days, when the long-desired peace 
came — the ^4ight that shineth in dark- 
ness. '' The whole character of the man 
was changed. From being the terror of 
the neighborhood, he became a peace- 
maker, to whose arbitration other people 
brought their wordy battles. 

One of the first acts that he performed 
after the confession of his faith was 
the freeing of all his slaves. He had 
never learned to read; but he procured a 
Bible, and marked, in a way in which he 
could distinguish them, the passages in 
which he especially delighted. That Bible 
was his constant companion. In the 
market, along the road, or wherever he 
hailed people, he would stop and ask 
them to listen, while he opened his Bible, 
and repeated from memory the marked 
passages. 



I08 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

But the ex-priest, who ministered to 
the little flock, was made to feel the un- 
friendliness of his old, forsaken Church, 
and it was thought wisest for him to visit 
from place to place as a sort of traveling 
evangelist. He was a perfect flame of 
zeal, winning men by the compassionate, 
divine love that dwelt in him, though he 
was a man of winning personality aside 
from that. But the spirit of such men 
consumes the vital forces of the body 
quickly, as a candle burning in a breeze, 
and there came a day when he felt his 
strength was going. 

It so happened that in his journey he 
drew near a Government hospital. He 
entered, and asked if he might rest, and 
the major in command of the hospital 
gave him permission. He held some 
conversation with this major, who was a 
man high in civil authority and of con- 
siderable wealth, and gave him the pocket 



IN BRAZIL. 109 

Bible and hymn-book which had been his 
faithful companions during the years of 
a weary pilgrimage. And then he died — 
died as fearlessly as he had lived. The 
major gave orders that he receive a Chris- 
tian burial; and, thinking he must have 
been a faithful son of the Church, the 
parish priest buried him in consecrated 
ground, with the rites of the Roman 
Catholic Church. 

Before many days there was a great 
stir, and the news was spread abroad that 
a heretic lay in the shadow of the church. 
The parish priest, in great wrath, went 
directly to the major, and said: 

^^Why did you order me to give that 
man a Christian burial, knowing, as you 
did, that he was a heretic?^' 

^^I ordered him to recieve a Christian 
burial,'' responded the major, ^^ because 
he was a Christian — a better Christian 
than ever you or I have been." 



no A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

^^You shall be excommunicated for 
this/' threatened the priest. 

^^I am excommunicated already/' re- 
plied the major. ^^I have excommuni- 
cated myself. Here is my religion/' and 
he took from his breast-pocket the little 
Bible which had been given him. 

A guard of soldiers were stationed 
about the grave to prevent the Roman- 
ists from dishonoring the remains, which 
were afterward disinterred, and given a 
peaceful rest in a Protestant burying- 
ground. 

The major openly avowed his faith. 
He and his family became earnest work- 
ers in the Church of the missionaries. 

It is said that when the bishop, who 
had been so familiarly acquainted with 
the ex-priest, came to die, he seemed to 
be in great distress. Calling a priest to 
his bedside, he said: 

^^Can you not call upon some saint of 



IN BRAZIIv. Ill 

your devotion to intercede for me? It 
goes evil with me — it goes evil with me!'' 
And thus he died. 

There was another class of people to 
come under the influence of the mission- 
aries. These were the Negroes, who, 
during the long occupancy of Brazil as 
missionary territory, from their condition 
of servitude, were being gradually eman- 
cipated by the operation of the decree of 
187 1. Against them, as a race, there was 
not found among the Brazilians that in- 
eradicable prejudice that exists among us 
towards the freedmen. 

It is but scant justice to allow that the 
history of the Roman Catholic Church 
shows that, wherever that Church has 
been dominant, there has never been so 
sharp a distinction between bond and 
free. In the thought of the Church, their 
souls are of equal value; and, in point of 
fact, both are in spiritual servitude to an 



11^ A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

aristocracy which, is none the less preten- 
tious and powerful because its ranks are 
filled by men who come from every 
class — from ancient and opulent houses 
of the nobility, and from among the 
meanest born in the lowliest walks of 
life as well. It is affirmed, too, that the 
Brazilian Negroes, as a rule, are of a 
somewhat higher order of men than have 
been held in slavery elsewhere, of greater 
strength and stature, of better and more 
regular features, and of greater mental 
vigor. 

In the Churches, they have been ad- 
mitted in exactly the same standing with 
their white brethren, and no protest has 
ever been made. 

In the town of Viera fully one-half 
the population are Negroes, and more 
than one-half the members of the mis- 
sion Church are of the same blood. The 
minister, at one time in charge of the 



IN BRAZIL. 113 

work in that place, had in his service a 
young Negro who had lately been con- 
verted. He was almost twenty-one years 
old, and of powerful physique; but one 
day he said to the minister : 

^^My mother beats me because I come 
to your church.'^ 

^^That is hard to bear,'' said the min- 
ister; ^^but it is one of the trials of your 
Christian faith. Show your mother obe- 
dience in everything she asks of you ex- 
cept the giving up of your religion, and I 
will pray that her heart may be softened.'' 

The young fellow's life was so con- 
sistent that, after a time, his mother felt 
a curiosity to know what strange power 
it was that gave him strength to resist 
her, and yet with patience to endure the 
floggings. She went with him to Church. 
The minister did not denounce her 
Church, or say one word concerning its 
false teachings. 



114 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

^^I only preached Jesus/^ he said. 

After the sermon, he walked down, 
and shook her hand. 

^^How did you like it?'' he asked. 

^^That was good,'' she said, '^and I 
want to hear more." 

She heard more, and in a few weeks 
became a Christian. 

There is a third class which, on ac- 
count of the great press of work and be- 
cause the laborers are so sadly few, have 
scarcely been touched. These are the 
Indians, the aboriginals of Brazil, who 
have been crowded outside the limits of 
civilization, much as they have been with 
us. During Dom Pedro's time, with his 
characteristic benevolence, he had Gov- 
ernment teachers employed for them ; but 
after the fall of the empire, these edu- 
cating agencies were withdrawn. 

Under the empire. Church and State 
were united, and the priests were sus- 



IN BRAZIL. 115 

tained out of the national treasury. 
There was little of the ancient evangel- 
izing spirit among the profligate body; 
but after teachers were appointed, the 
priests occasionally visited the Indians. 
The teachers appealed to the emperor, 
praying that these priests be forbidden 
to visit among their wards, because they 
taught them gambling and all manner of 
immorality. 

One of the missionaries tells of his 
attempt to start a mission among some 
of the southern tribes; but the change 
in the Government was made soon after, 
and he adds sorrowfully, ^* And I had to 
leave my poor Indians.'' 

The Brazilians have an instinctive 
love for a theoretical free government, 
but practically they are not yet equal to 
sustaining one with credit. But the 
change from an hereditary monarchy was 
a propitious one for the missionary work. 



Il6 A STORY OF MADKIRA. 

Dom Pedro's tolerance was not one of the 
graces of his daughter or her French 
consort, who stood next in the order of 
succession. Both were under Jesuit in- 
fluence, and were narrow Romanists, and 
had they been permitted to pursue their 
own political course, it would have fared 
ill with the fast-growing missions. 

By the change in Government, Church 
and State were divorced, and the State 
funds could no longer be diverted to the 
support of the Roman Catholic Church. 
That has quickened the activity of the 
priests, and, while there never has been 
real persecution in Brazil, the Church is 
striving to regain and hold its old su- 
premacy as never before. 

The hope of the Republic lies, in no 
small degree, with the extension and vi- 
tality of Protestant educational mission- 
work within the borders of Brazil. That 
there is a crying need for the moral re- 



IN BRAZIIv. 117 

generation of this Portuguese-speaking 
people, and for the presence of a pure 
faith among them, is fully illustrated by 
the case of a young man who had applied 
for membership in the Presbyterian 
Church in Rio Janeiro. He had made a 
satisfactory confession of faith, and an- 
swered the questions put to him until 
they asked: 

^^Do you keep the Seventh Command- 
ment?^' 

^^Do you think,'' he exclaimed, ^^ there 
is a young man in all Brazil who does 
observe that?" 

He was, of course, rejected; but it 
stands in evidence of the widespread cor- 
ruption in a country where the Roman 
Catholic clergy hold the consciences of 
the people and the absolving power over 
their sins. 



Chapter VI. 

A WIDENING HELD. 

ONCE more returning to the exiles 
from Madeira, it seems that with such 
a history behind them, and holding the 
memory of their great and good missionary 
father so sacredly, the Churches of the 
Illinois settlements could never have been 
otherwise than deeply filled with the mis- 
sionary spirit. They themselves, as a 
Church, were the result of missionary 
enterprise, and their hearts instinctively 
turned to others of their race dwelling in 
spiritual darkness. 

The modern Portuguese is distin- 
guished by the adventurous spirit much 
as were his cavalier ancestors of the fif- 
teenth and sixteenth centuries, and the 
hardy sons of Madeira and the Continent 

ii8 



A WIDENING FlElvD. II9 

are found in various portions of the world, 
living in communities of their own peo- 
ple, preserving their customs, and speak- 
ing their native language. In Massachu- 
setts and along the New England coast, 
they are found in large numbers. In Cal- 
ifornia, and stretching northward to the 
farthest limits of Washington, are yet 
other large colonies. 

In the Hawaiian Islands, one-sixth of 
the population are Portuguese. They are 
at work mainly upon the sugar planta- 
tions, numbers of them having remained 
since the early whaling times, when from 
three to four hundred whaling-vessels an- 
nually visited the islands. They are gen- 
erally by the sea. They love its keen, 
salt breeze, and the eternal murmur of its 
waters. 

They are Roman Catholics almost to a 
man, and the efforts of the humble little 
colony in the heart of Illinois have been 



I20 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

especially directed toward all of these 
waiting fields. 

Three men and their wives followed 
Dr. Kalley, to assist in opening up the 
work in Brazil; later, six others were 
sent out. Two are laboring in Californiaj 
two in Massachusetts, and two have gone 
to Portugal. Five have gone to Madeira, 
which is now a comparatively safe field of 
work, made so by the Christian sentiment 
of the world recoiling against persecution. 

In 1890 the mission to the Hawaiian 
Islands was inaugurated by a minister 
who came as a boy with the original band 
of exiles. He was educated for the min- 
istry, was for three years a missionar}^ 
in Brazil, and has served as pastor among 
his countrymen in the Illinois Churches 
for twenty-six years. Some years after 
the Civil War he visited Madeira, and 
preached to a gathering of neighbors in 
the house of a kinsman. 



A WIDENING FIELD. 121 

It had been his birthplace, and the 
home from which his family had fled for 
their lives because of the same gospel he 
proclaimed in security that day. And 
now, as this ^^ Story of Madeira'^ draws 
to a close, there comes the news of his 
sudden taking out of life. He was one 
of the fast disappearing links that bind 
the people to the time of the persecution. 

There was a strength and vigor in the 
character of that earlier generation not 
found in this. Among them all, none 
possessed more fully the distinguishing 
marks of that generation of Christians, 
and none possessed the broad culture and 
gift of leadership which gave to Rev. 
E. N. Pires among his own people the 
place left vacant by the death of Dr. Kal- 
ley. There was ever apparent in him 
this thought, that the ministry to which 
he had been called was pre-eminently a 
high calling among men. He fully real- 



122 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

ized in his own life and character the 
dignity of that calling, and the wide and 
tender charity for which it stands. Two 
years ago he gave his yonng danghter to 
the Hawaiian work. With her have been 
associated six others. 

Hardly to be classified as an out- 
growth of Dr. Kalley's work, and yet 
most intimately associated with it, is the 
life-labor of a man who was not born 
of the Portngnese race. 

Away back in the early fifties he was a 
stndent in an Eastern college. He was 
chosen to take part in an open literary 
meeting, a^d debate npon some qnestion 
involving the political history of North 
and Sonth America. He prepared to 
speak npon his side of the qnestion ; bnt 
from some canse was nnable to appear. So 
slight a canse as that was sufficient to 
turn the current of a life. From his re- 
searches he became strangely interested 



A WIDENING FIKI.D. 123 

in the Brazilians, and came to feel he had 
received a direct summons to missionary- 
work among them. By the time he had 
completed his course, the Civil War open- 
ing prevented his being sent just then 
by the Presbyterian Board of Missions. 
But the Madeira exiles had already set- 
tled in their new home in Illinois, and 
a call was made for a pastor, as the native 
pastor was not equal to the work of the 
several Churches. 

Impressed that this was a providential 
opening for him to master the Portuguese 
language, acquaint himself with the peo- 
ple, and prepare for a wider field, the 
young minister responded to the call, and 
was installed as pastor over two of the 
Churches. Later, he labored in Brazil 
for many years, and has given two sons 
and two daughters to the work in that 
field. 

And there is a personal history behind 



124 A STORY OF MADEIRA. 

each one of these thirty-seven names of 
those who have gone out from this single 
Illinois colony to do missionary work, 
some of them most touching and of deep 
interest. Some young and high ambi- 
tions have been laid in sacrifice upon the 
altar, the closest and tenderest of human 
ties broken, and, in some cases, years of 
slow toil, in the midst of poverty, have 
been spent in fitting for work. The list 
given, containing the thirty-seven names 
and their respective fields of labor, closes 
with this pathetic little line: ^^ Others 
willing to go if they only had the means." 

Bishop Taylor writes thus of Dr. Kal- 
ley's life and mission: ^^All this illus- 
trates the vitality of hardy, self-support- 
ing missions. They can be 'scattered 
abroad;' but every fragment sticks where 
it strikes, and takes root, and grows, and 
produces fruit to the glory of God.'' 

And, indeed, no more marvelous widen- 



A WIDENING FIELD. 125 

ing of one man's pnre devotion has the 
world ever beheld, from the moment that 
a young man of twenty-nine years of age, 
possessed of every gift that makes life 
full and rich, stood on the deck of an 
ocean steamer and listened while God 
called — called through a human afl&iction. 
A thousand converts on a single island, 
a whole Christianized people, trans- 
planted to a distant land, there to per- 
petuate their race and faith, and a mighty 
missionary influence that is not ended, 
but only gathering force as the years 
go by. 

Ended— nay! not until the sower and 
the reaper shall rejoice together and unite 
their voices in one grand, triumphant, 
^^ Harvest Home.'' 



^' xj>^jxxix xjx xjx xixx^ 

HILDEBRAIMD AND CICELY; 
Op, The IVIonk of Tavystoke Abbaye. 

By M. A. PAUIyly. 

i2mo. Cloth, One illustration, j^g pages, .... $i.oo, 

"Not every sweet Cicely of those dark ages found so 
generous and loyal a confessor as heroic Hildebrand ; not 
every monk so fully kept the sacred vows of his order. The 
language is chaste, the style attractive. . . . As a study of 
that eventful period, just at the dawn of the Reformation, 
and of the monastic life which was so potent a. factor 
in it, the book is of great value." — Christian Advocate^ 
Syracuse, N, V. 



GRANDMONT: 

Stories of an Old Monastery. 

By HON. WAI^TKR T. GRIFFIN. 

i2mo. Cloth. Illustrated. 272 pages, $1.20, 

"It is not so much a romance as a series of romantic 
incidents, drawn from the veritable history of one of the 
most celebrated religious establishments of medieval 
France. . . . The character of the pious Abbot Etienne, 
who exhibits the mind of Christ in an age of rudeness, 
cruelty, greed, and superstition, and the exploits of the 
giant monk, Hugues, whose memory still lives in the tradi- 
tions of the French peasantry, are the most notable features 
of a book which is entertaining and instructive to a re- 
markable dQgree:'—Sunday-school Journal, New York. 



CURTS & JENNINGS, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis. 



X xixxtg>fextxx|xx|x ^ 



Xl^l^ o ^^ O ^^ O ^^ O ^j^ O ^^ O ^^ O ^^ O ^1^ O ^^ O ^^ O ^j^ o ^J^ o ^^ o ^^ o ^^ o ^^ o ^^ o i"^ 



THE LEAST OF THESE: 
And Other Stories. 

By ly. T. MKADE). » 

/^;;/(?. Cloth, Illi'.straied. 2^0 pages, 75 cents. 

"The writer has a tender spot in his heart for children, 
and his pictures of child-life in the slums of the great cities 
is intensely realistic." — Christian Observer. 

"The book is distinguished by deep, intelligent charac- 
ter study and strong examples of the helpfulness of the 
gospel to the most lowly." — Young Men's Era. 



NATURE AS A BOOK OF SYMBOLS. 

By WM. MARSHAIvIv. 

i2mo. Cloth. 277 pages, 90 cents. 

"The work is thoughtful, philosophical, and logical, and 
is replete with food for profitable reflection. It demon- 
strates the absurdity of both the atheistic and agnostic 
theories of creation, and annihilates the excuses commonly 
urged by Viwh^Xx^ir—Religiotis Telescope. 

"The mind is certainly dull that can not find both 
pleasure and profit from these pages. To the sermon-builder 
they will sug.eest both methods and material for the force- 
ful illustration of truth, while to the thoughtful layman, 
old or young, they will reveal new realms of beauty in the 
ever-open book of noXuxQ:'— Methodist Herald. 



CURTS & JENNINGS, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis. 



JillM->-^ 



